More than 100 people are thought to have died in in the Philippines in Typhoon Haiyan, one of the most powerful typhoons ever recorded. Hundreds have been injured and hundreds of thousands displaced and forced to flee their homes.

With communications and roads still cut off, Captain John Andrews, deputy director general of the Civil Aviation Authority, said he had received "reliable information"from his staff that more than 100 bodies were lying in the streets of the city of Tacloban on the hardest-hit Leyte Island. It was one of six islands that Typhoon Haiyan swept across on Friday.

Regional military commander Lt Gen Roy Deveraturda said the casualty figure "probably will increase," after viewing aerial photographs of the devastation caused by the typhoon, which is now moving away from the Philippines. and eading toward Vietnam.

A senior aide to President Benigno Aquino III said the number of casualties could not be determined, but that the figure was probably in the range given by Andrews. Government troops were helping recover bodies, he said.

Civil aviation authorities in Tacloban, a city of 200,000 about 360 miles south-east of Manila, reported that the seaside airport terminal had been "ruined" by the storm, Andrews said.

US Secretary of State John Kerry said in a statement that America "stands ready to help".

Joseph de la Cruz, who was attending a meeting in Tacloban when the typhoon struck and hitched a ride on a military plane back to Manila, said he had counted at least 15 bodies.

"A lot of the dead were scattered," he said, adding that he walked for about eight hours to reach the Tacloban airport.

Weather officials said Haiyan had sustained winds of 147 mph with gusts of 170 mph when it made landfall. By those measurements, Haiyan would be comparable to a strong Category 4 hurricane in theUS, nearly in the top category, a 5.

Vice Mayor Jim Pe of Coron town on Busuanga, the last island battered by the typhoon before it blew away to the South China Sea, said most of the houses and buildings there had been destroyed or damaged. Five people drowned in the storm surge and three others are missing, he said by phone.

"It was like a 747 flying just above my roof," he said, describing the sound of the winds. He said his family and some of his neighbours whose houses were destroyed took shelter in his basement.

In the aftermath, people were seen weeping while retrieving bodies of loved ones inside buildings and on a street that was littered with fallen trees, roofing material and other building parts torn off in the typhoon. All that was left of one large building whose walls were smashed in were the skeletal remains of its rafters.

The Philippine television station GMA reported that its news team saw 11 bodies, including that of a child, washed ashore Friday and 20 more bodies at a pier in Tacloban hours after the typhoon ripped through the coastal city.

At least 20 more bodies were taken to a church in nearby Palo town that was used as an evacuation center but had to be abandoned when its roofs were blown away, the TV network reported. TV images showed howling winds peeling off tin roof sheets during heavy rain.

Ferocious winds felled large branches and snapped coconut trees. A man was shown carrying the body of his six-year-old daughter who drowned, and another image showed vehicles piled up in the debris.

Nearly 800,000 people were forced to flee their homes and damage was believed to be extensive. About 4 million people were affected by the typhoon, the national disaster agency said.

Relief workers said they were struggling to find ways to deliver food and other supplies, with roads blocked by landslides and fallen trees.

Save the Children said up to 7,000 schools could have been damaged by Haiyan, as the aid agency battles to reach the hardest hit areas like the city of Tacloban.

The charity's country director Anna Lindenfors said: "We are very concerned for the poorest and most vulnerable children in some of the hardest-hit places like Tacloban where there is likely to be catastrophic damage, especially to the homes of the poorest people who live in buildings made from flimsy materials."

"While the immediate focus must be on saving lives, we are also extremely worried that thousands of schools will have been knocked out of action or badly affected by the typhoon.

"In the worst-hit areas this will have a terrible impact on children's education and it will be important that we help them back to school as quickly as possible."